First sky-high urban snowboard event in New York

Red Bull Snowscrapers marks the debut of the largest snowboarding contest held in an urban setting in North America complete with top music acts and a spectator village located in East River Park.

For the first-time ever, Red Bull will create an amazing 90-foot state-of-the-art structure for top riders to own the iconic Manhattan skyline. The athlete’s will drop in from a nine-story building before flying off the specially constructed kicker toward an immense 80-foot long hip.

The innovative hip built by world-renowned designers Frank Wells and Mike Bettera of Snow Park Technology allows riders multiple angles of trajectory— frontside or backside, landing on either the right or left side of the massive 45-degree spine. Additionally, the groundbreaking ramp design will allow spectators to get up close and personal giving fans an opportunity to experience the action first hand as the riders spin roughly four stories into the sky.

New York spectators may deem them insane, but for the competitors, pushing the limits is a constant frame of mind. Although both their skill and style will be put to the test, the challenge here lies in the Red Bull Snowscraper’ s unique double-sided pyramid landing that pushes the envelope of big-air competition and rider adaptability.

With so many angles of approach, options, and opportunity, the athlete who ultimately conquers may be determined by their creative state of mind. And that creativity will be rewarded handsomely with hefty $50,000 to the winner. With so much on the line Red Bull left nothing to chance enlisting snowboard legends to judge the banner event soon to be announced.

Iconic snowboarders including Olympic Gold Medalist Shaun White, freestyle / backcountry legend Travis Rice, ultra-progressive phenomenon Pat Moore and soon to be announced others will compete against the majestic backdrop of the East River and the New York City skyline in a contest that should prove to be the biggest winter event in the city.

The Red Bull Snowscrapers will join the ranks of the most prestigious snowboard events on the planet as a 5Star stop on the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour. “We are very excited to have the Red Bull Snowscrapers come on as a 5Star event on the TTR World Snowboard Tour” says Reto Lamm, President of the TTR World Snowboard Tour. “It is great to have another innovative Red Bull concept on tour and there is no better location then New York City to put this on. New York has a huge snowboard community and this will be a great opportunity to showcase our sport on such a large platform.” The TTR crowns a World Snowboard Tour Champion at the culmination of each season and pays out an end-of-season prize purse worth $200,000.

It seems that the up-coming first has all the makings for an excellent debut: After a World Cup absence in France for almost four years, a French ski resort will host a Snowboard FIS World Cup Big Air for the first time on home turf.

This season’s Dutch competition of the Burton AM Tour 2008/09 took place last weekend, the 6th of December, at Landgraaf. The contest was characterised by a high number of participants from seven different countries.